About JUAA

JUAA is a voluntary, membership-based organization that was established in 1947, modeled on several U.S. accreditation organizations. At the time of its establishment, 46 universities gathered and formulated the “University Standards” as a benchmark for quality. Since 1951, we have been implementing institutional accreditation based on these standards.

JUAA became the first agency certified by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to conduct Certified Evaluation and Accreditation (CEA) for universities in 2004. Since then, JUAA has carried out CEA for universities, junior colleges, and professional graduate schools in nine fields, such as Business, Law, and Public Health. In addition, JUAA offers program accreditation in veterinary medicine and dentistry.

JUAA conducts research on higher education in Japan and abroad, working to improve evaluation and accreditation frameworks while disseminating research findings widely through its publications. In response to globalization, JUAA has actively strengthened strategic partnerships with overseas quality assurance agencies, including through International Joint Accreditation (iJAS) and collaborative initiatives in the Asia-Pacific region, to enhance the international recognition, transparency, and comparability of its accreditation activities within the global quality assurance community.

Certified Evaluation and Accreditation (CEA) is Japan’s statutory quality assurance framework, established in 2004 to ensure and enhance the standards of higher education. Under this national mandate, all HEIs are legally required to undergo external evaluation by accreditation bodies certified by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology — once every seven years for universities, junior colleges, and colleges of technology, and once every five years for professional universities and professional graduate schools.